Vice's New Channel for Women Aims to be the New Face of Feminism

August 13th, 2015

Toni Tileva

Digital Strategist

Vice, the magazine and online platform that has long be THE platform for all things subversive and hip (and arguably, wryly hipsterish) is launching a new channel Broadly, described as a "women’s interest platform that will feature original, reported stories on pretty much everything from a female perspective with online videos and articles." By women; for women.

Tracie Egan Morrissey, a veteran editor at Jezebel, brought the idea of a site telling stories from a woman’s perspective to Vice cofounders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi last year. “I pitched them this idea,” she says, “and they hired me on the spot.”

At launch, Broadly has “Ovary Action,” a show about the war on women’s reproductive rights; “Style & Error,” a show about women’s fashion, like the iconic power suit; and an interview series called “Broadly Meets,” featuring prominent women like Rose McGowan and Virginie Despentes.

To avoid the terrible trolling that usually besets anything even remotely related to women on the web, Broadly will have no comments section: “When women are speaking online, it’s such a lightning rod for every angle—other feminists are telling you you’re not doing feminism properly, MRAs are coming in and calling you a fat whore,” Morrissey explains.

Vice tends to skew to a rather masculine audience, even if a lot of the readers are female too, but with swagger-ific coverage of things like the Atlanta Twins, porn stars, and Action Brosnon, it's not exactly Gloria Steinem's oeuvre either.

“Young women—millennial women—are really smart, are really well educated, and they want this kind of news,” Morrissey adds. “It’s fun to be distracted on Twitter with bullshit here and there, but covering abortion rights and the things happening to women right now is really, really, really needed.”

So how does Broadly intend to deal with the dreaded "feminazi" label or even more the point, the commodification of feminism as "girl power." “I think if you’re a woman, and you’re not a feminist, then you’re an idiot,” Morrissey says.

So, here's to Broadly--the broad news sources for us broads. With its grrl power, rather than "girl power," ethos, Vice's "better half" looks to be off to a riotous start. Follow Broadly on Twitter at @Broadly.